Boot Hill looking to purchase former chamber building

Tuesday

In a small agenda meeting on Monday, city commissioners approved a memorandum to assist Boot Hill Museum in the purchasing of the former Dodge City Area Chamber of Commerce building on Spruce Street.

With the plans for the expansion of the museum taking place, the museum was looking into finding a safe location for its archives and collections.

According to the memorandum, Boot Hill Museum first received estimates of constructing a basement under the planned addition to the museum due to a main water line that runs under the museum currently.

Estimates for the addition of a basement came in at $800,000 which according to city manager Cherise Tieben would have been used by the Star Bonds which would have taken away part of the needed funding for the expansion of the new building.

The museum then looked at the former chamber building for not only storage of the archives but also for administrative and curatorial space due to how close the building was to the museum.

The city approved to provide $136,008 to Boot Hill Museum to assist in the purchasing of the chamber space.

Those funds will be paid by the guest tax reserve, with the museum paying the $113,992.

The city also agreed to begin the process of a Community Incentive District where the museum agreed to place a 1 cent sales tax on all sales made within the CID which was stated in the memorandum.

The approval came with a unanimous vote of 5-0.

To contact the writer email vmarshall@dodgeglobe.com

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.